Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Dame Judi Dench says equal pay will 'never exist' for actresses

'No matter how much we speak out. We are put in our place,' says the beloved actress

Joe Nerssessian
Friday 25 August 2017 11:04 BST
Comments
'It will never be on a parity,' says the Oscar winner
'It will never be on a parity,' says the Oscar winner (Getty)

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

Dame Judi Dench has said the Hollywood pay gap will never disappear no matter how often stars speak out.

The Oscar-winning actress, 82, believes pay equality is “better now than it’s ever been” but women continued to be “put in our place” when it comes to trying to earn the same as male co-stars.

Her remarks come after a list of best-paid stars over the past year exposed a $42m (£32m) gap between the highest-paid male actor, Mark Wahlberg, and his female counterpart, Emma Stone.

Transformers star Wahlberg topped the male list with $68m (£53m), whereas La La Land’s Stone collected $26m (£20m) in the past year.

And the top 10 on the men’s list earned a combined total of $488m (£380.5m) compared to $172m (£134m) for the top 10 women.

Stone recently said some of her male co-stars had agreed to pay cuts so she could have parity with them while Natalie Portman and Jennifer Lawrence have also recently spoken out about the gap.

Speaking to Good Housekeeping, Dame Judi said: “It’s better now than it’s ever been, I think, but it will never be on a parity. Never.

“No matter how much we speak out. We are put in our place.”

The actress also told the magazine death is “too frightening to contemplate” as she reflected on the loss of actor Tim Pigott-Smith earlier this year.

She said: “I suppose not being around any more scares me. I don’t like that.

“The actor Tim Pigott-Smith, who is in Victoria & Abdul, was a great mate of mine. And then, quite suddenly, you hear he is not there any more. That not only frightens me, but it also depresses the hell out of me.”

The full interview appears in the October issue of Good Housekeeping.

Press Association

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in